“Marion” is the first piece of new music from Beacon’s Thomas Mullarney III and Jacob Gossett since the New York duo’s 2016 album, Escapements.

At the heart of “Marion” is a hammered dulcimer. The percussive, stringed instrument—an ancient ancestor of the piano—acts as the composition’s harmonic and dynamic guide. Samples ebb and flow, projecting into the mix at moments of brightness and clarity. Other times they recede beneath Mullarney’s crystalline voice and a bed of feathery, pneumatic production. This is the mode in which Beacon have always thrived: wistful amidst pulsing electronics and soft-washed hues.